The story behind our name

When we started out as RingJohn in 2002, the company consisted of John working at his kitchen table. Fast forward a decade, and John’s solo operation had grown to 15ish people.

Much as we love puns, RingJohn was starting to feel a bit too… John-focused. After much debate, we settled on “Tinderpoint”.

Our made-up word and its made-up definition felt right. After all, that’s what we set out to do: light the fire that sparks a marketing revolution.

tinderpoint

/ˈtɪndərpɔɪnt/

noun

The point at which a fire gets lit.

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Just as we were about to unveil our new identity to the world, an app with a novel twist on dating started making the rounds of US college campuses.

Look guys,” said John. “This will only ever become an issue if that dating app gets so big – I mean Facebook big – that it completely hijacks the word “tinder”, making it synonymous with casual dating forever.

Nowadays, 4% of our monthly website traffic comes from people who care more about getting lucky than getting ranked. Sometimes, we get phone calls that we really shouldn’t be getting. And every time we meet a new client – every time – the subject of casual dating comes up.